Trau ( trow , trowe or drow ), evil or harmful fairies or spirits in the folk tradition of the Orkney and Shetland Islands [1] [2] . Usually short physique, ugly appearance and timid behavior.
Like the Scandinavian trolls , with whom they have much in common, trau - night creatures; getting out of their 'trowie knowes' (settlements inside the hills) exclusively in the evenings, they often come to human houses while their inhabitants are sleeping. Traditionally, Trauans are very fond of music, and fairy tales tell about their habit of kidnapping musicians or luring them into their homes.
Content
Early Evidence
According to Joe Ben's “Description of the Orkney Islands” (1529), the sea traw ( Trowis [3] ) Stronsay was a sea monster resembling a stallion whose entire body was covered with algae, with tangled or curled hair, and horse sexual organs, which mated with the women of the island [4] .
According to Walter Scott : “Natives of the Orkney and Shetland Islands still attribute to the people called the Drows the possession of supernatural wisdom. This people in most other ways can be identified with the Caledonian fairies ” [5] .
Sources and Parallels
Dee (1991) suggests that the origin of drau, as possibly silk , may be based in part on the Scandinavian conquest of the islands. According to her, the Viking invasion caused indigenous, black-haired Picts to hide, and that “on the Shetlands there are many stories about these strange people, shorter and darker than tall blond-haired Vikings, expelled from their lands to sea caves, and going out at night to to steal from new landowners. ” [6] However, most Roman sources describe the Picts as tall, with long limbs and red or blond hair.
Trau melodies
Some Shetland violin melodies are told that people heard them from the mines. One example is the song “Winyadepla”, which can be heard performed by Tom Anderson on his album The Silver Bow with Eli Bane .
Fantasy
Trau influenced the creation of one of the most common images in modern fantasy , especially in games - the drow , a fictional race from the universe of " Forgotten Realms ", as well as their many imitators of dark elves . [7]
The traws themselves are also found in computer games: in the role-playing game The Bard's Tale (2004), where they have an indescribable appearance and are the main cause of many troubles, and the strategy (1997), where they are depicted as evil underground giants with elephant legs . [7]
Notes
- ↑ trow , Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004 , < http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/trow_n1 > . Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ↑ Edmondston, Thomas (1866), An Etymological Glossary of the Shetland & Orkney Dialect , Adam and Charles Black, p. 131–2 , < https://books.google.com/books?id=V0Q5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA131 >
- ↑ Calder, Charles ST & MacDonald, George (1936), " The Dwarfie Stane, Hoy, Orkney: its period and purpose. Note on 'Jo. Ben' and the Dwarfie Stane ", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland T. 70: 220 , < http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_070/70_217_236.pdf >
- ↑ Ben, Jo. Ben's Orkney // Geographical Collections Relating to Scotland. - Scottish History Society, 1908. - Vol. 3. - P. 303–4, 315. (lat.) & (English)
- ↑ Sir Walter Scott, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1830), p. 122. Sometimes "drow" is used as a synonym for devil.
- ↑ Dey (1991) , p. 12.
- ↑ 1 2 Psmitm R. (Lensky A. Yu.) . Drau, or dark elves // The best computer games . - No. 12 (73); December 2007 .
Literature
- Dey, Joan. Out Skerries - an Island Community. - Lerwick: The Shetland Times, 1991 .-- ISBN 0-900662-74-3 .
- Grydehøj, Adam (2009). Historiography of Picts, Vikings, Scots, and Fairies and its Influence on Shetland's Twenty-First Century Economic Development (PDF) (PhD). University of Aberdeen.